I Should Have Been a Pair of Ragged Claws
by Kathey27
Summary: The story of how Klaus shows Caroline the world. / Or, In the end, she ends up on his doorsteps anyways. It's not one year or a hundred years but three weeks that pass before Caroline finds herself, hastily packed bag and all on his front steps. Post 3x20.


**A/N: I actually originally wrote this as an English assignment. Yeah, I know. One of my English teachers assigned a creative writing assignment and I was having a hard time thinking of something to write because well fanfiction is easy, anything else, not so much. I went to her and asked her if I could do a fanfic and she said yes and since I know she watches the Vampire Diaries, I decided to do another Klaroline one because I'm still not 100% okay with that finale. So thank you Ms. T! You're the best!**

**Sorry for that crazy rambling up there; anywho, I hope you like:**

**Disclaimer: I disclaim.**

**xxxxxx**

**i should have been a pair of ragged claws (scuttling across the floor of silent seas):**

In the end, she ends up on his doorsteps anyways.

It's not one year or a hundred years but three weeks that pass before Caroline finds herself, hastily packed bag and all on his front steps.

It's been three weeks since the dance and Alaric's transition, two weeks since Alaric started to terrorize them, one week since they tried to kill Alaric and fours hours since Alaric killed Tyler.

This is all very unfortunate.

So she's there on his porch with a bag at her feet, mascara running down her face when Klaus opens the door.

His gaze softens (reluctantly) once it hits hers and he takes in the sight of her. "Caroline – "

"You told me you'd take me away." She cuts in, tightening her arms around herself. She can feel her lungs starting to cave in again and there are those traitor tears again and is that really her voice hitting those high pitches? She wipes away at the stray tears on her cheeks and waits for him to make his decision. His gaze is piercing and pitying and she can just see the wheels turning in his mind.

She's about to suck up what's left of her dignity and leave when he reaches down and takes her bag in his hands. "Where would you like to go first?"

She somehow manages a smile through the pain.

xxxxxx

So this is how it all goes down:

Alaric makes another play for them in the daylight, hoping to draw them out and expose to the town what they really are. It is all very smart and clever and evil except…

…They get cocky. A witch, three vampires and hybrid against one hunter? They'll be fine.

Bonnie reads her incantation, Alaric falls to the floor in pain and Damon, Stefan and Tyler circle around him and it is going great until it isn't.

One minute Alaric's on the floor, withering in pain and growling and the next his hand is inside of Tyler's chest and Tyler's collapsing, clutching at the gaping hole that had once stood as a barrier between his heart and the outside world.

Before they can react, before anyone can do anything, before she even has time to scream Alaric's gone, Tyler's heart with him and Tyler, is dead.

xxxxxx

She only has time for a few goodbyes so she sticks to the ones that will hurt the least.

Mascara stained cheeks and all she goes to Jeremy and hugs the young Gilbert and asks him to "take care of Elena" and "be strong, it won't always be like this" and "be happy". He nods and lets her go.

She goes to Bonnie and ignores the judgy eyes the witch can never resist throwing out these days and pleads with her "please understand" and "I need this" and "don't hate me". Bonnie turns her back as Caroline walks out.

Damon's last and it's only really because despite how annoying the Salvatore is and how he has abused and used her, it was his blood that sired her and it's him who she goes to when she wants someone to get drunk with. Her voice cracks as she explains that "I need out" and "don't tell Elena 'till I'm gone" and "keep her safe". His surprisingly sad and understanding eyes trail her as she walks out of the boarding house.

xxxxxx

After her goodbyes are all said and done Caroline returns to him and the sight of his two bags has her throat tightening and her mind flashing back to Tyler's cold and lifeless body and all that blood and the screams that kept escaping from her lips and Stefan's arms as they tried to pry her away and –

"Ready to go love?"

She holds his stare and nods against the tears.

xxxxxx

It's a quiet flight and she spends most of it biting and crying into the pillow she'd for some reason taken along. He says nothing the whole nine hours and when she finally cries herself to sleep, she swears she can feel a ghost of fingertips along her neck as the darkness consumes her.

xxxxxx

Klaus takes her to Paris first.

It's all gorgeous and bright and the people are all smiling and hugging and kissing and Caroline can only hold herself tightly and jump at all the noises around her.

They stay at a hotel picked out by Klaus himself and she's sure she'd appreciate it more if her boyfriend hadn't just died before her not even twenty-fours hours ago.

When she lies down on one of the beds to cry some more, she doesn't move away from his touch or protest his useless words of comfort.

xxxxxx

Caroline wakes up the next morning to find Klaus gone and her phone blaring, announcing she has fifty missed calls and twenty text messages.

She's about to open the first one when the front door to the suite opens and Klaus walks in, a jubilant smile on his face. "Ready to see the world love?" He asks, his voice happy and soft and not at all Klaus-like. All she can hear coming out of his lips is _"Ready to go to the Grill Care?"._ Her throat begins to burn and she has to shut her eyes to block out the pain.

"Love?" (_"Care?"_)

She throws her phone down onto the floor. "Give me a minute."

xxxxxx

The whole purpose to this trip was to forget Tyler.

And that is exactly what Caroline can't seem to do.

They leave Paris after she runs into a Tyler-look-a-like and nearly has a panic attack (she isn't planning on going back within the next few centuries, maybe even ever) and now they're in Spain and she still can't let go. She sees him in every cocky smile, in every flirty eyebrow raise, in every deep, alpha male voice. She sees him _everywhere_.

But Klaus doesn't care. Which she does not understand at _all_. She figured he'd be mad and go all hybrid on her and demand she pay attention to him; figured he'd ignore her broken (shattered damaged destroyed) heart. Instead, he doesn't push when she wanders off in her own little mind and allows her to get blood bags and doesn't bring his meals to the hotel rooms and doesn't complain when she feels like lying in bed for hours. And she's fine with this, she is; it's all even better for her.

Then she remembers Rebekah and hybrids and Elena's blood and Elijah and Kol and all that Klaus had to leave behind. (For her).

She tries harder to forget Tyler.

xxxxxx

Caroline finally picks up her phone a month into the trip and this time, it's Elena on the other end. (At first it had been her mom then Elena then Stefan then Bonnie then her mom then Bonnie then Damon then Stefan then Jeremy then Elena and on and on and on).

"Caroline, Care, thank _God._ We've been so worried and we were afraid that he took you or – or, or compelled you and I – "

"I'm fine." Really, what more is there to say?

"Fine? _Fine_? Caroline, you're with Klaus."

She gives no response.

"How did this happen Care?"

_Tyler died and I can't breathe around you because whenever I so much as think your name my mind makes it your fault._ That is what she wants to say. Instead, what leaves her mouth is this: "I'll call you later."

xxxxxx

Caroline turns over in her bed and eyes the Original from his own bed, the sketchpad held delicately in his hands.

"What about your hybrids?" The question gets asked lowly and she isn't sure what she's doing asking him this. She has no right.

He glances up from his pad, thins his lips as if deciding whether or not to answer, and then nods to the cooler by the window.

She eyes it for a moment before going to sleep.

xxxxxx

She gets tired of him not talking to her two months and five countries in.

"You're ignoring me." She says this with her hands on her hips and her lips pulled up into a scowl and the last time she'd looked at anyone like this, was Tyler. (That doesn't mean anything. It _doesn't_).

"I wasn't aware you wanted the company." Is Klaus' only reply followed by his signature smirk.

She loses her resolve at this because yes, when this had all started out she'd barely spoken a word to him and yes, she's made no effort to be friendly and yes, she's been mooching off of him.

"Well…I do." She huffs, fighting off the blush threatening to take over her skin. She turns, walks out and doesn't catch the smile he throws at her back.

xxxxxx

She used to have nightmares. During the first month she had nightmares of Alaric and his too fast hands and Tyler and his broken, cold body and Elena and her guilty eyes and everyone trying to placate and pity her.

She used to wake up shrieking for help because her forever, her happily-ever-after, her lover, her everything just got his heart stolen.

She wonders how through the screams and the pain and the nightmares she kept waking up the next morning and forgetting whom it was who had held her through them all.

xxxxxx

Caroline lets go of Tyler at the end of the second month when Klaus hands her a sketch of her crying into a pillow and she doesn't even recognize the girl staring back.

xxxxxx

She phones Jeremy because while he's young he seems to understand and is the least likely to go running back to Elena.

"Just tell them I'm okay and that I love them all and not to worry, okay? Especially my mom. Let her know Klaus is – Klaus is taking care of me and we're fine."

xxxxxx

Caroline discovers that, when he isn't being a creepy hybrid killer, Klaus is a pretty sweet guy.

Now that he isn't ignoring her and she isn't pining (much) after someone dead and gone she can see sparks of whom he used to be peaking through the surface.

'Nik' or Klaus or Niklaus or whoever likes art and horses and prefers wine over beer and has bad '90s movies as a guilty pleasure and loves his family, especially his sister, and likes the color blue and the smell of old books.

xxxxxx

She asks him mid-third month once the nightmares are all but gone, she's collected over fifty souvenirs, she barely hears Tyler's parallel in everything he says and she can look at him without fear of seeing a body count.

"Why did you say yes?"

He smiles (smiles, not smirks) and for a second she can see a trace of the innocent boy he'd surely once been. She's 89% sure that boy had been beautiful.

"I promised I'd show you the world did I not? Genuine beauty and all that."

She frowns and glances over at the cooler. "You stole Elena's blood for your stupid army."

A shrug. "I did."

"You like blue."

A dazzling smile. "That's true."

She takes in a deep breath, considers whether or not she's finally gone insane and asks: "Can I call you Nik?"

The look that spread across his face is one that can only be described as happiness. His mouth turns up, his eyes crinkle and the sparkles in them intensify. She doesn't think it's fair for someone so dark and cruel inside to look so innocent and radiant outside.

"Of course."

xxxxxx

(She folds Tyler up into a tiny, tiny box and shoves him into the deepest corners of heart. There's nothing left there for her now. She has to try and make room for Klaus).

xxxxxx

Things move forward from there and it isn't long before when Klaus goes out she isn't far behind and when she feels like reminiscing or needs someone to keep her from calling _them_ back he's there.

Don't get her wrong.

He's still Klaus. _Klaus._ Evil Original with all the diabolical plans and sire bonds and hybrids and kidnapping and threatening and cruel voice and killings. She knows this, she does. She won't ever be able to forget any of this.

But she can look past it because hey, she wanted to come with him, she wanted him to take her away and help her forget and that's exactly what he's doing with the plus of being the perfect gentleman.

With the revelation that Klaus is actually a person beneath all his gruff, Caroline is now able to talk to him and not be afraid of being staked at any random moment. She can now tease him poke fun at him and smile at him and drag him all over stores and ramble on and on about nothing at all. She can use him as a friend.

xxxxxx

Their new found peace comes crashing down in Monte Carlo when they run into Kol.

The youngest Original is all sly smiles and eyebrow taunts and suggestive language and so much like Tyler it's all Caroline can do not to cry.

Klaus notices this of course and being the gentle badass that he is keeps Kol distracted, points out a few redheads to keep him occupied and away from them. This works about as well as…well the epic failure that was their plan to kill Alaric.

Kol, being the smart cookie that he is notices and gets even closer to Caroline, arm slung over her shoulder and everything.

Long story short? Kol ends up with a broken arm, Caroline with a sore throat, and Klaus just looks pissed at the both of them.

After it's all over and done and Kol finally takes a hint and leaves, Klaus approaches her. His touch his gentle and kind and as he asks her if she's okay she catches a flash of something on his face that absolutely _terrifies her._ Love. She stills beneath his touch as he continues to fuss over her and curse Kol's name and "if he ever touches you again I'll make him eat the bloody arm". No, no, no. This can_not_ be happening. She is just getting over Tyler and starting to think of him as a friend and no longer longing for her friends and getting used to having only him as a companion and this will mess it all up. This had been so much easier when he'd just wanted her around for company and now –

"Caroline? Love? I asked if you were all right?"

She glances up at his question and nibbles down on her bottom lip, eyes taking in his cautious and hopeful expression.

(She doesn't love him; she knows, _he_ knows. But looking at him now and his beautiful childlike face she realizes something.

She can learn to).

"I'm great."

xxxxxx

Damon calls her at the start of the fourth month with a single cracked sentence: "Ric's dead."

She isn't sure whether to say sorry or cry or laugh. She hangs up.

xxxxxx

While they're in Rome Rebekah finds them with Stefan on her arm and Caroline knows whom Elena (finally) chose.

The Original and youngest Salvatore look happy and good together and despite their past, the blonde seems to put up with her because of Klaus. She is one hundred percent okay with this; with the exception of Klaus and Elijah, she has no interest in any other Original (the latter only because he'd once been an ally) and it's going to stay that way.

Despite this though, the once duo soon becomes a quartet.

xxxxxx

Stefan drops down onto her bedside one afternoon and it reminds her so much of how things had once been that she almost smiles. Almost.

"I noticed Elena's blood."

She nods.

"Do I want to know how he got it?"

She shrugs.

"…He's not a good man."

Silence.

"He's a killer, a madman, a trickster, a liar."

"…I know." Her voice is weak and feeble compared to Stefan's.

"Then what in the _hell_ are you doing?"

Silence.

(She has an answer; she just doesn't know how to say it aloud yet).

xxxxxx

She finds a way to say it aloud two weeks later in Santa Fe.

The phone calls have stopped, the text messages have stopped, the nightmares have stopped, the parallels have stopped, the guilt has stopped. It's all stopped.

And that's why she can now do this:

"Nik? I'm ready now."

He looks up from the blood bag in his lap and although she isn't even really sure why she just said what she said he seems to get it because what he offers her next is a smile.

"Good." He clasps her hand in his.


End file.
